The consequences of the
Thirty Years War had taken a heavy toll on many of the political institutions
in Europe during the latter part of the 17th Century and now with
the treaties of Ryswick in 1697, it was thought that peace and stability
would be sustainable for the future. The treaties had presumably assured
the sovereigns of Europe that the balance of power throughout
Europe would be maintained, thus preventing the preponderance of any
single state. Crucial to maintaining a balance of power system
is a commitment by members of the treaties to change alliances as
the situation demands in order to uphold the balance.

As
the calendar turned over into the 18th Century, in the year 1700,
the stability of the balance of power once again was threatened.
This time the concern was triggered by the illness and probability
of death of Charles II, King of Spain, Naples and Sicily. Charles
II, the last of the Spanish Hapsburgs, was physically crippled and
mentally retarded, so it was pretty much of a foregone conclusion
that he did not have the strength to survive his current illness.

Charles II did not have
an heir, so the question of succession and influence became a matter
of significant political concern for the European countries, particularly
France, England, Holland and the German states. From the Court of
Versailles, all of the arts and influence of French diplomacy were
assembled to persuade Charles II to designate Duke Philip of Anjou,
grandson of Louis XIV, as his successor to the Spanish throne. Meanwhile,
pressures were being brought to Charles II by England, Holland and
the German states to choose Archduke Charles of Austria, nephew of
the Queen of Spain (Mariana of Newburg) and son of the Austrian Emperor
Leopold I.

The game, Versailles II,
takes the player to the Court of Versailles under King Louis XIV,
which has become a central arena of political passions, power and
influence at the time of the imminent death of Charles II. The stakes
are high. The intrigue is building as the concerned European countries
actively position themselves to have a direct influence on what will
be a changing political map.

Which of the two proposed
successors will inherit the Spanish throne? Will the outcome result
in war between France and Austria? If so, it might be “politically
correct” to refer to this potential war as the War of Succession!

The Heir is Not Apparent:
As the game begins, you play the part of Charles-Louis de Faverolles,
a young nobleman and former page at the Versailles Grande Ecurie (the
stables). You arrive at the Court one morning in 1699 with only a
letter of recommendation addressed to your former master at the stable
and your meager monetary savings. Your immediate objective is to find
lodging and a job. Your ultimate goal is to improve your standing
at Court by gaining influence and favor that will open up an opportunity
for a diplomatic assignment that will send you to Spain and satisfy
a fervent desire to be reunited with your childhood sweetheart, the
maiden Elvira.

The
key to fulfilling your ambition rests with your ability to reach and
gain the confidence and favor of the Marquis de Torcy, Minister of
Foreign Affairs. But the road to reaching your goal will not be an
easy one. You will need to blend in at Court, listen carefully and
weigh the political consequences of discussions that you overhear,
decide who to trust and who are potential enemies and be ready to
perform innumerable services (some of them dangerous), while discovering
and foiling treacherous plots that threaten to undermine the political
interests of France…all in order to improve your standing at
Court.

Your first job is as an
Assistant Building Inspector, which is awarded to you as a result
of your ability to organize various craftsmen in a precise work sequence
that is required to perform a reconstruction project on the King’s
bedroom. This project is the first of many unusual and diverse puzzles
that you will encounter during the game and actually is pretty easy,
as well as educational, because there is only one order for the craftsmen’s
tasks that will work.

Once you have established
your first position at Court, you are directed/guided by the unfolding
story of the game to many interesting locations at Versailles (i.e.
the Pelican Inn, the gardens, the Minister’s Wing, the Grand Commun,
the War Room, the Queen’s Staircase and the water system tunnels).

Your journey will be marked
by challenges and trials that will progressively improve your standing
at Court, but will be full of surprises and political affairs. You
will converse with many different characters at Versailles and knowing
who are your allies and who are your enemies will be important to
your survival and your success.

How
will you gain the favor of the Spanish Ambassador? Should you get
involved to save the reputation and life of your boss (Lhuillier)
who has been accused of theft? What about the wisdom or consequences
of helping the scientist (de Bandols) to find the secrets of how the
underground water system works? What should you do with the mysterious
and somewhat disturbing letter received from the enigmatic and flirtatious
Prosperine? How do you maintain your devotion and commitment to Elvira
without disappointing Prosperine and eliciting the politically devastating
disfavor of her influential god-grandmother Madame de Maintenon? Can
you save d’Arqueil from his gambling addiction? What covert intentions
does the strange Englishman have and what danger does your involvement
present? What terrible thing has befallen Elvira and can you “make
a deal” with the German Count Sinzendorf that will save her?

These are just a few of
the questions that you will face as you progress through this game.
Let the fun begin and it continues almost non-stop, as you navigate
your way through the palace and gardens of Versailles in an exciting
attempt to fulfill your destiny.

An Edutainment Tour
of Versailles: I’m sure that you’ve already guessed that this
game is pure edutainment. Right from the beginning you are given the
choice of experiencing three (3) different “consultation modes”:
a cursor-guided tour around the town of Versailles (circa 1699), the
chateau and the gardens; a thought-provoking trip through history
by exploring the documentation/reference section; the adventure game
itself.

Versailles II is a very
linear, very historical game that is heavy on educational content
but still manages to provide an interesting and challenging adventure
game for the player. You will travel to locations by use of a Map
feature that will normally give you only one or a minimum number of
choices at each juncture in the game, thus, maintaining the linearity
of movement throughout the game.

The game is played from
the 1st person perspective and you will use the mouse cursor, which
can take various forms, to move, take action, take items and converse
with characters.

A right-click of the mouse
will bring up the Inventory Bar, where you will store and use inventory
items. This area also provides the player with access to the following
special features: your “memory” in the form of a Logbook
that automatically records information about decisive stages in the
course of the developing story; a dress/costume icon that allows Faverolles
to change clothes and appearance according to the story’s circumstances
or needs and a See icon for use in consulting clues that you have
previously collected.

Another use of right-clicking
is to activate the Documentation, which is provided as a historical
encyclopedia and chronicle of the year 1700. It illustrates and provides
information about the culture, people and daily life at the Court
of Louis XIV with files grouped under five (5) main topics: A Town
Within a Town; The Court Within Its Garden; Princes and Subjects;
Public and Private Histories; and Life at Court.

Of
course, the interface allows the player to access the Main Menu and
select from starting a New Game, Loading a stored game, Returning
to a game in progress, Quitting a game and Saving a game by selecting
either an Automatic Save mode or a Manual Save mode.

All in all, everyone should
be familiar and comfortable with the Versailles II game interface
and playability.

A Marquis Presentation:
The graphics and animations used throughout Versailles II are vintage
Cryo, utilizing a new, improved 3D photo-realistic modeling engine
that creates magnificent, colorful images and enhances the player’s
ability to become visually immersed in the scenes and the story. Although
there are not frequent or spectacular animations, they are well-done
and offer additional visual appeal to playing Versailles II.

Real characters from the
Court, including Louis XIV himself, are encountered and the voice
acting is generally good…acceptable, but not outstanding.

The music is excellent
and unusual, in that, it uses an orchestra of 25 musicians, featuring
harpsichordist, Skip Sempe, to present specially recorded excerpts
from the compositions of several music masters. The result is that
the music provides a nice complement to the expansion of the story
and fits comfortably with the period of history being portrayed.

Would you know how to play
a game of “lansquenet” and win? How about trying a winner-take-all,
high-stakes game of “teetotum”? Well…I know that you
all would be very accomplished when we try a game of “blind-man’s
bluff”? These are real games that were actually practiced during
the 17th and 18th centuries. So…here’s your chance to have fun
and experience a little history at the same time. Go for it!

The rest of the puzzles
in Versailles II are going to be probably quite familiar, in terms
of concepts, but they are unique to the times and they are integrated
into the story. A couple of the puzzles are tied very tightly to the
historical/educational fulfillment of the game (i.e. saddling/outfitting
a horse and renovating the King’s bedroom). These puzzles involve
performing tasks in a particular sequence and the game will provide
a “guide” for your efforts that only permits you to progress
in an order that the game has pre-selected…so, you can’t go wrong.
Not a lot of challenge, but interesting anyway.

There are many inventory-based
puzzles, which involve collecting and using items and some more complex
puzzles, which require research in the documentation base (i.e. determining
the order of succession from the royal families, decoding a secret
letter and operating the underground water system).

Then…the
game manages to include a “hated” tunnel maze puzzle and
makes certain that you might become doubly distressed by adding a
“timed” escape sequence caused by a catastrophe from which
you will die, unless you move very quickly to escape. Wow…I’m
tired just thinking about it!

Conclusion: If you
enjoy “edutainment” games, you will enjoy Versailles II.
It won’t be the best edutainment game that you have ever played, but
most probably, at least for me, will rank somewhere in the middle.

If you’re interested in
the historical times of Louis XIV and the Court of Versailles and
enjoy stories of political intrigue, then you will find Versailles
II to be worthwhile.

The graphics and animations
are excellent, the music is very complementary to what is happening
on the screen and the puzzles provide a lot of variations by offering
historical insights into popular games of the time and challenging
the player to perform skills and answer quizzes that are appropriate
for the unveiling and progression of the story.

I enjoyed Versailles II,
but then I especially like “edutainment” games, so I’m relatively
easy to please. Having said that, I feel obligated to say that it
didn’t “captivate” me the way many other “edutainment”
games have done and I visited Versailles last June, 2001, so…I
was looking forward to the return trip by way of this game.

So…exactly who came
out as the “winner” in this high-stakes game of succession
to the Spanish throne? What role did Faverolles play in the political
intrigue that played out at the Court of Versailles and did his role
make any difference in the outcome of the succession? Was Faverolles
successful in reuniting with his childhood sweetheart, the lovely
Elvira?

My Rating for Versailles
II: B

Minimum PC System Requirements:

Pentium II, 350 Mhz Processor
32Mb RAM
8X CD-ROM
Windows 95/98
Video card: thousands of colors
16 bit Soundblaster compatible card